


The Protector

by DoctorBane



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Gen, limited pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-21
Updated: 2013-08-21
Packaged: 2017-12-24 06:20:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/936421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoctorBane/pseuds/DoctorBane





	The Protector

John woke up with a start.  
“What? Where am I? What’s going on here? Why am I in this room?”  
No one answered.  
“Someone help me!” he called out helplessly.  
“Shush John, don’t worry, I’m here to help you,” the voice that haunted him said.  
“Oh no, not you, please not you, don’t come any closer. Please... someone help me!” John screamed, crouching in the corner and hugging his legs.  
“Don’t worry John, I’m here, I’ll take care of everything. You just sleep now.”  
“No... get... away...”. John felt himself getting weaker, and weaker, until everything went black.

Many years earlier...

“You stupid little fuck! Why did you come in here? I specifically told you not to bother me tonight!” John’s father swung his hand, where it collided with John’s face, sending him flying across the room.  
“But Daddy, I just wanted to see you.” I barely saw you this week, John thought, but didn’t dare say. He was barely able to see through blood and tears.  
"Well I didn’t want to see you. This was my one chance to score with that hot chick, and you came in and fucked it up!” his father yelled back, kicking him in the gut. “Why can’t you just do one thing right, and just piss off when I tell you. I don’t care if you’re lonely, or sad, all I care about is that you do what I tell you. And right now that is stop snivelling, and get out of my sight, you worm.”  
John obeyed his father, knowing that it was pointless to argue. When his dad was in a mood like this, there was no point in talking to him. Then again, his dad was almost always in a mood like this.  
A week afterwards, John’s father gave him some very surprising news.  
“We’re going to the circus; now get your coat and your shoes on.”  
John was very surprised; this was the first time he could recall his father deciding to take him anywhere fun. However, he decided not to ask too many questions - that would usually result in a punch to the gut – and decided to wait, and see what they were going to do.

It turned out that they weren’t going to the circus alone. John’s father waved across at a young woman on the other side of the road. Whispering in John’s ear, his dad said, “Ok kid, do not screw this up for me. I’ve been trying to get this woman to go out with me. She said yes, but as long as I brought you along. Do not speak to her unless she speaks to you, and even then, try to keep it short. She’s mine.”  
“Ok Daddy,” John said, but already his dad was striding across to meet the woman.  
“Hey, Sexy,” he said.  
“My name’s Patricia,” she teased. They exchanged hugs, and then Patricia was crouching down and saying hello to John.

As they all piled into Patricia’s car, John could not contain his amazement. He couldn’t remember ever being in a car before, and the experience of being in one for the first time was overwhelming. As he sat down, his father took a long strap, put it over John, and pushed it into a strange device that went click. John panicked – whatever the thing was, it was tight – but when he tried to take it off, his father smacked his hand away from the button, saying it was for his safety. His father went round and sat in the front, and Patricia was already sitting next to him, with a big wheel in front of her.  
“What’s the wheel for?” John asked, without thinking. His father twitched.  
“Oh, this is so I can control where the car goes. It’s called a steering wheel,” Patricia replied looking over her shoulder and smiling briefly. The rest of the car journey continued like this, with John asking what a certain part of the car was, and Patricia replying kindly, while his father turned a deeper shade of crimson.

Once they got to the circus, John found everything completely overwhelming. All the people seemed so happy. There were people who walked on thin wires that Patricia called “trap-eez artists,” and people who seemed to attack lions with a thin belt like object that Patricia called a whip. John felt sorry for them, because he could remember his father hitting him with a belt when he was in especially bad moods. But then again, they couldn’t be doing it out of malice, because his dad hit him, and yet he loved John... didn’t he?  
However, the people who interested John the most were the men who had ridiculously huge, rainbow coloured hair, bright red noses, and very pale faces, except for the lipstick they had around their mouths. They all wore clothing that was too big for them, which was the opposite of John – his clothes were too small for him. His dad called him fat, yet John was constantly hungry. John thought there must be something wrong with himself. When he asked Patricia what these men were called, she said they were called “clowns.”  
“Clown? That’s a strange word,” John replied. Strange word or not, however, the clowns were by far his favourite performers.

After he got back home with his dad, his dad went straight up to his bedroom, and slammed the door. Suddenly, John remembered why his father had seemed so annoyed at the circus. John went upstairs to apologise to his dad, because no matter how nice Patricia was to him, John had disobeyed his father.  
As soon as he approached the door, however, it flung open, crashing into John.  
“WHAT DID I TELL YOU? SHE WAS THERE FOR ME, NOT FOR YOU! I TELL YOU TO DO ONE LITTLE THING, AND YOU COMPLETELY IGNORE WHAT I SAID!” John’s father seemed even scarier than usual, like a monster from the films he let John watch that gave him nightmares for months afterwards.  
“Daddy, please, I’m sorry,” John cried.  
“You’re going to be sorry when I’m through with you. You’re going to be so sorry you won’t be able to sit down for a year.” His father stomped towards him. As he did so, something happened in John’s mind. A voice that sounded like it came from another five year old boy, told John that everything was going to be OK. It told John to go to sleep, and that when he woke up, everything would be OK.

John obeyed.

When John woke up, he found himself kneeling in a pool of something sticky. It smelled of metal, and it was red. It was coming from a large figure on the ground that seemed to have a bottle in it. After a few seconds John realised, that it was his father, that there was glass on the floor, that the bottle was broken and standing in his father’s throat.  
He also realised his father wasn’t moving.

Many years later...

“Don’t worry, Johnnie-boy. I kept you safe from our father. I can keep you safe from anyone.” The pale-skinned man with green hair and red lips laughed to himself. “I can always find our way out of here.” Presently, there was a large explosion from in front of him. Emerging from the explosion was his female clown, who had just rescued him and John from the bowels of Hell.  
“Come on puddin’, we gotta vamoose. It won’t be long before he’s here,” she called to him.  
“I know, my dear, but part of me wants to see him,” the man replied.  
“Well then, it’s your lucky day, ‘cause here he is,” the woman said, pointing down the corridor. Emerging through a door came the demon that persecuted John.  
“Joker, what have you done?” the demon growled at him.  
“Batsy, how’re you doing? I’ve been waiting.”


End file.
